Shakespeare’s HAMLET Cover Photo of Alan Mahon © Mark Douet 2016 Edition © Andrew Hilton 2016 The Text It is almost certain that Shakespeare was familiar with an earlier tragedy we refer to as the ‘Ur-Hamlet’. That text is now lost and the author unknown (many suggest Thomas Kyd, a few that it was by Shakespeare himself); but we know that it was in the repertoire of Shakespeare’s company, the Chamberlain’s Men, in the 1590s. Shakespeare may well have performed in it himself, together with Richard Burbage and Will Kemp, at the Newington Butts Theatre in June 1594. This would be six or seven years before the time when we believe the Shakespeare play that we know was written and produced. Mysteries abound: the text that was published in the first great Folio of 1623 is largely a heavily edited version of the one published in Quarto in 1604/5, the text we know as the ‘2nd Quarto’. But what of the ‘1st Quarto’? The text of this was lost until 1823, when Sir Henry Bunbury found a printed copy of it in his library in Suffolk. A second turned up in Dublin in 1856. Published (according to the title page) in 1603, it differs radically from Q2 and is popularly considered to be a poor ‘memorial reconstruction’ of the play as first performed, ‘pirated’ by a freelance actor who could remember the scenes he had played in himself far better than those in which he hadn’t. We can’t know if this theory is true (I can’t believe it’s the whole truth) and, although the order of publication is a known fact, we can only speculate as to which of Q1 and Q2 was actually composed first. One alternative to the ‘pirating’ theory is that Q1 was simply one stage in the long evolution of the play – either from the ‘Ur-Hamlet’ or from the Belleforest source (see below); another that it is a much shorter and smaller cast version devised by Shakespeare’s own company for some specific, but now irrecoverable, purpose. Wherever the truth lies, Q1 is little known and rarely read, but it is far from the ‘garbled rubbish’ it has sometimes been considered. For this production, I began my edit with the 1st Folio text. In one instance I borrowed from the structure of Q1 and preferred several of Q2’s line and word readings to the Folio’s, but I restored virtually nothing cut by the Folio editors, and made many more cuts of my own. The full Folio version, though more than 1,500 words shorter than Q2, is considerably longer than any other Shakespeare play. This is yet another mystery; we know that at the Globe Shakespeare’s company was allowed a three-hour window in which to perform and then clear the house (by 5.00 pm), so why a busy playwright should have composed such an impossibly long play provokes yet more speculation. The full Q1 text, in modernised spelling, is available to download from the stf website: www.stf-theatre.org.uk Sources Central elements of the story go back to the twelfth century, to the account (in Latin) by the Danish poet, Saxo Grammaticus, of the legendary Danish revenger, Amleth. Amleth’s uncle, Feng, killed Amleth’s father (after the father had defeated the King of Norway in single combat) and then married his mother. In contrast to Shakepeare’s telling, the murder is not a secret and to protect himself from his uncle, and to disguise his planned vengeance, young Amleth feigns idiocy. While talking to his mother in her chamber, he is spied on by one of Feng’s councillors. Amleth discovers him, kills him and dismembers the body. Feng sends him to England in the company of two courtiers, who carry a secret commission instructing the English king to execute him. But he discovers this document and substitutes the courtiers names for his own. They are executed, while he returns to Denmark to avenge his father’s death by killing his uncle and the whole of his court. In the sixteenth century Saxo’s story was retold in French by François de Belleforest in Les Histoires Tragiques. We don’t know if Shakespeare read Saxo, but he was certainly familiar with Belleforest, even though that was not published in English until 1608. Belleforest introduced a few changes to the story. In particular, he tells that Hamlet’s mother had been having an affair with her brother-in-law before the murder of her husband but that, later, she repented of her actions and conspired with Hamlet to kill his uncle and gain the Danish throne. Features of Shakespeare’s play such as Fortinbras, the Ghost and the play-within-a-play – the last two being popular elements of Renaissance revenge tragedy - are unknown in both Saxo and Belleforest, and so are presumed to have originated either with Shakespeare himself or with the author (if it was A.N.Other) of the lost Ur-Hamlet. The full texts of the sources are also available to download from the company’s website. Andrew Hilton CAST Francisco Marc Geoffrey Barnardo Laurence Varda Marcellus John Sandeman Horatio Alan Coveney Ghost Christopher Bianchi Claudius Paul Currier Gertrude Julia Hills Polonius Ian Barritt Laertes Callum McIntyre Hamlet Alan Mahon Ophelia Isabella Marshall Reynaldo Marc Geoffrey Rosencrantz Joel Macey Guildenstern Craig Fuller 1st Player/Duke Christopher Bianchi 2nd Player/Duchess Eleanor Yates 3rd Player/Lucianus Laurence Varda 4th Player/Prologue Callum McIntyre Fortinbras Laurence Varda Gentlewoman Eleanor Yates Sexton Nicky Goldie Priest John Sandeman Osric Marc Geoffrey Lords & Ladies, Messengers, Soldiers played by members of the company PRODUCTION Director Andrew Hilton Associate Director Dominic Power Assistant Director Peter Chicken (UofBristol) Set & Costume Designer Max Johns Assistant Designer Mae-Li Evans (UofBristol) Costume Supervisor Jane Tooze Lighting Designer Matthew Graham Composer & Sound Designer Elizabeth Purnell Fight Director & Captain John Sandeman Production Manager Nic Prior Construction Manager Chris Samuels Company & Stage Manager Jennifer Hunter Deputy Stage Manager Cassie Harrison Assistant Stage Manager Charlie Smalley Wardrobe Mistress Jessica Hardy Production Photographer Mark Douet Rehearsal Photographer Craig Fuller 1 Part One Scene 1 Enter Barnardo and Francisco Barnardo Who’s there? Francisco Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. Barnardo Long live the king. Francisco Barnardo? Barnardo He. Francisco You come most carefully upon your hour. Barnardo ’Tis now struck twelve, get thee to bed Francisco. Francisco For this relief much thanks: ’tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. Barnardo Have you had quiet guard? Francisco Not a mouse stirring. Barnardo Well, good night. If you do meet Marcellus, The rival of my watch, bid him make haste. Francisco I think I hear him. Stand: who’s there? Marcellus [Off] Friends to this ground. Horatio [Off] And liegemen to the Dane. Enter Marcellus, followed by Horatio Marcellus Holla Barnardo. Barnardo Welcome Marcellus. Say, what is Horatio there? Horatio A piece of him. Barnardo Welcome, good Horatio. Marcellus What, has this thing appear’d again tonight? Francisco I have seen nothing. Gentlemen, give you good night. Barnardo Farewell honest soldier. Exit Francisco Marcellus Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy, And will not let belief take hold of him, Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. Therefore I have entreated him along With us to watch the minutes of this night, That if again this apparition come He may approve our eyes and speak to it. 2 Horatio Tush, tush, ’twill not appear. Marcellus Sit down awhile, And let us once again assail your ears That are so fortified against our story What we two nights have seen. Horatio Well, sit we down And let me hear Barnardo speak of this. Barnardo Last night of all, When yond same star that’s westward from the pole Had made his course t’illume that part of heaven Where now it burns - Enter Ghost Marcellus Peace, break thee off, look, where it comes again. Barnardo In the same figure like the king that’s dead. Marcellus Thou art a scholar, speak to it Horatio. Barnardo Looks it not like the king? Mark it Horatio. Horatio Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder. Barnardo It would be spoke to. Marcellus Question it Horatio. Horatio What art thou that usurp’st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march. By heaven I charge thee speak! Marcellus It is offended. Barnardo See, it stalks away. Horatio Stay, speak, speak, I charge thee speak. Exit Ghost Marcellus ’Tis gone and will not answer. Barnardo How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on’t? Horatio Before my God, I might not this believe Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes. Marcellus Is it not like the king? Horatio As thou art to thyself: Such was the very armour he had on When we the ambitious Norway combated. So frown’d he once, when in an angry parle 3 He smote his sledded polaxe on the ice. ’Tis strange. Marcellus Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. Horatio In what particular thought to work I know not, But in the gross and scope of my opinion This bodes some strange eruption to our state. But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again! Re-enter Ghost I’ll cross it though it blast me. Stay, illusion! If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, Speak to me.